Page 55 of Yours, Now and Always
Eventually, she eases back, brushing her mouth over mine one last time before pulling away to look me in the eye. “I love you,” she says softly.
My heart does something reckless in my chest as I drag my thumb over her bottom lip. “I love you too,” I say, my voice raw with everything I can’t put into words. “Every part of you.”
She falls silent for a long moment, just staring up at me, and I wonder what’s running through her mind. Finally, she says softly, “Do you know when I first fell for you?”
Fuck, my wife is going to undo me tonight. “Tell me.”
“It was the night you took me to my parents’ anniversary party, after you forced your way into being my date.” She grins when my brows lift at her choice of words. “The night you tried to kill me with a tuxedo.”
“Forced is a harsh interpretation,” I murmur, tightening my grip on her ass.
“Forced is entirely accurate.” The playful sparkle in her eyes eases a little as her expression softens. “It was when I told you I don’t do well at parties. That I feel too many expectations.” She presses closer, one hand coming up to my neck. “You didn’t hesitate. Didn’t try to change my mind about not staying long. You listened to what I needed.”
Her eyes search mine, so much love shining in them. “You love me so well, Gage. Every part of me. And you never try tochange me.” There’s a gentle fierceness in her voice when she continues. “I will love you forever. In the good moments, the hard moments, and every moment in between. I won’t ever stop. I want to love you just as well.”
There will never be another woman for me. Not in this life. Not in any fucking life. She’s it. My only. My endgame.
“I thought we were exchanging vowstomorrow,” I say, throat tight. She’s got me so fucking lost in her I can’t find any other words.
Her lips curve into a knowing smile. Amelia knows I feel everything for her, but that I’m better at showing it than saying it. “I thought I’d start early, darling.”
“Fuck,” I growl, one hand curling around her throat. “You keep calling me that, and we may never leave this room again.”
Her smile turns sexy. “I saw your reaction to it earlier. It’s good to know I’ve discovered the word that’ll always get me what I want.”
I drop my lips to her neck and kiss my way down to her collar. “If you haven’t worked out that you’ll always get what you want from me, I need to do better at showing you how you affect me.”
Her fingers thread through the back of my hair while my lips mark territory around her collar.
“Hmm, I’m not sure that’s true.” The smile in her voice is clear. “You wouldn’t let me paint your toenails last night.”
I spend two more seconds with her collar before lifting my face back to hers. “A man has to draw the line somewhere.”
“It’s not the only thing you’ve said no to. There was the hydrating sheet mask you wouldn’t let me put on your face the other night. The green smoothie you said no to before calling it pond scum. And you refused to help me pick between the three white paint swatches for the guest bathroom.”
I give her a look that sayskeep going, Princess. You’re about to find out just how far my devotion goes.“There was no discernable difference between those paint swatches.”
“There really was. Oh, and you also said no to the detox tea I made you last week.” She shrugs. “So, no, I don’t always get what I want from you, darling. It seems you’ve got work to do.”
My hand is around her neck—right over her collar—before the last word even leaves her mouth. “You think I say no to you?” I growl, my eyes locked on hers. “You think there’s shit I wouldn’t give you?” My voice is thick and husky, unrecognizable even to me. “You have no fucking idea what I’d say yes to, Amelia. There is nothing I wouldn’t burn, nothing I wouldn’t become, if it meant giving you what you need. You want my soul? It’s yours. My life? Take it. You already own every fucking piece of me. Every part that no one else has ever seen. You get it all. Because there’s no world I exist in where I don’t give you everything.”
I dip my head, my forehead pressing to hers as I breathe her in, every inch of me hers. “And if the last thing you ever wanted from me was painted fucking toenails, I’d give you that too.”
CHAPTER 19
AMELIA
Of all the things Gage has ever grumbled about, shampoo is by far my favorite.
We’re still in the shower after he declared his love all over again, and he’s glaring at my pink bottle of shampoo, grumbling, “It smells like fucking coconut and sugar.”
I bite back a smile. There’s something both absurd and endearing about seeing my burn-the-world husband naked and shooting daggers at a shampoo bottle. “Don’t be angry at it. You’re the one who didn’t bring your own.”
His eyes cut to mine. “I thought you packed it for me.”
“I figured that since you’re a grown man, you were capable of packing your own toiletries.”
A dark grumble echoes off the tiles as he flips the bottle over, reading the label like it’s pissed him off. “Christ, what is all this shit they put in here?”
